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Just this one book is just so phenomenal, dear God, it's written by God. And anybody who doesn't believe that probably hasn't spent much time reading it. And so, Father, I just pray that you would please just bless us as we conclude this series on the book of Matthew, dear God. Speak to our hearts, dear God, and help us to close this thing out. And Holy Spirit, I just pray that you would fill me as I speak tonight, dear God, and that it would not be just some kind of a cunningly devised sermon, dear God. But please just help it to be something that was moved and led by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. And in Jesus' name I pray, amen. Now, Matthew 28, the final chapter, deals with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, we're going to go back a little bit. As I said last week when we were in Matthew 27, such a long chapter, we kind of quit a little bit early. And part of the end of chapter 27, I wanted to tie in with chapter 28. So if you would, look at verse number 62 of chapter 27. The Bible reads, Now the next day that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver, they're referring to Jesus there, that that deceiver said while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure unto the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, and say unto the people he is risen from the dead. So the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch, go your way, make it as sure as you can. So they went and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch. Now, you notice this phrase that they said that deceiver. They're referring to Jesus Christ saying, You remember what that deceiver, that liar is basically what they're saying, said while he was around, he said that after three days I will rise again. For this cause, they said, we want to set up troops all around the edge of this tomb. We're going to put the stone in front of the door. We're going to set up a guard 24 hours a day, at least until the three days and three nights goes by, just to make sure that his disciples don't come and steal his body and say, Wow, he rose from the dead. Well, look, if you would, I love this verse. Look at Matthew 28, 6. I love what the angel throws in here, the angel that comes down and speaks to the ladies that were there at the tomb. The Bible says, He is not here, for he is risen. Look at those three words, as he said. You see how he threw that in there? I love that. Because whenever God says anything, that's just the way it is, friend. That's why if you read it in Genesis chapter 1, you'll see a phrase over and over. And God said, Let there be light. And you'll see, And it was so, on and on. And God said, And there was light. And it says, And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the heaven, and let it divide the waters above the firmament, from the waters below the firmament. And it always says, And God said it, and it was so. Because whenever God says anything, it's so. And that's why the Bible is our authority in all matters of faith and practice. We only believe what God said. Now, I see three, well, two that I'm going to deal with tonight. Two great areas today, in 2006, where people are still, the Pharisees of this world are still calling Jesus a deceiver. They're still calling him a liar. And two major areas that I can see in our day where Jesus is being called a deceiver and a liar. I mean, doesn't it irritate you when you read that, when it says, Ah, that deceiver, that liar. Well, they're doing it today. They're doing it down the street. They're doing it up the corner this way at churches all over America. Why? Well, number one area where people are calling Jesus a liar is in this area of the preservation of God's Word. Look back a few chapters, just to Matthew 24, and I'll show you a clear statement made by Jesus Christ. The deceiver? No. No, the truth incarnate. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He said, I am the truth. And he said about the devil, he's a deceiver from the beginning. There's no truth in him at all. But look at Matthew 24, 35, one of the greatest verses in the entire Bible. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Now, notice the plural on the ending of words. He didn't say my word. You know, my word shall not pass away, like there's always going to be a Bible. He said, no, my words shall not pass away. What he's saying is every single word that he spoke when he wrote this Bible, none of them are going to pass away. That's why it says in Matthew chapter 5, and you don't have to turn there, but the Bible says, let me just find the beginning of it here, Matthew chapter 5. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. He said, until this day comes, when heaven and earth will pass away, talking about at the end of the millennium when Jesus destroys the heaven and the earth and makes a new heaven and a new earth, he says, until that day, not one jot or one tittle will pass from the law till all be fulfilled. He said, every little comma, every dotting of an I, every crossing of a T will remain until the end of the entire world. It will not pass away. He said, my words will not pass away. Thou shall preserve them from this generation forever, the Bible says. Now let me ask you something. Is every word that Jesus Christ spoke in the word of God here, I'm talking about Genesis through Revelation, the 1189 chapters of the Bible, have they all been preserved to us today? Now I'm not asking you for some kind of a history lesson. I'm not asking you about some library of Congress somewhere. I'm not asking you about some theologian somewhere. I'm asking you, is Matthew 24, 35 true, or is Jesus Christ a deceiver and a liar as the Pharisees said he is? Look, if he's telling the truth, if God said it and as he said he's risen, as he said everything that he said came to pass because he is the truth, then we must know that somewhere in this world there must be a book somewhere that has every single word of God preserved today. Where is it? Where is it? Hey, tell me where it is because I'm going to tell you something. The only people who can answer that question and stand up like you're all just chomping at the bit and saying, yeah, I know where it is. Hey, the only people in this world who will confidently say, I'll tell you exactly where it is, they'll point to a King James Bible, period. Hey, Mr. NIV, stand up and tell me that you've got every word of God in your hand. They won't even tell you that. The NIV, where they took out 16 complete verses, in about 20 other places they'll say, we should have taken this out. They'll say, this probably was not in the Bible. They'll take Mark 16, and this is interesting. I'll tell you this. Check this out on your own. Mark 16 has 20 verses in it. They say that verses 13 through 20 in the NIV and in the New American Standard, both say this in the footnotes. They say these probably were not part of the original Bible. They've probably been added in. And that's Mark 13, I'm sorry, Mark 16 verses 13 through 20. So this is what's interesting about it, though. If you take off those last, let's see how many verses, the eight verses, they're cutting off eight verses off the end of the book of Mark. Well, I added this up. If you count how many verses you have left, guess how many there are? 666 verses in the book of Mark. If you take off the last eight. If you leave in God's word and you don't remove God's word, if you just leave it the way it is, there are 674 verses in the book of Mark. So, I mean, you see how satanic this whole thing is of cutting up the Bible and taking out verses? I mean, they take it out and they leave a book in the Bible with 666 verses where they're trying to cast light and take out parts and put things in and put doubt in your mind where even if you're some kind of an NIV diehard, you're reading the thing and saying, we probably shouldn't even put this in here. We just put it in to appease people. I mean, good night. If we took out too much, people would think we're nuts. So I took out 16 verses and we said, this is all we're going to get away with. I'm sure there's some other version that they'll come out with down the road where they'll take them all out. They'll take out more and take out here and take out there. Hey, look, my friend, somewhere somebody must have a copy of God's word that has every word that precedes out of the mouth of God. Man should not live by bread alone but by every word that precedes out of the mouth of God. Now, look, God did not promise that that would be available in every language, you know, every word. But he said it's going to be on the earth and he says, you know, you ought to get it into every language. He says you ought to preach it to all nations and tongues and kindreds and that's why we should be translating the Bible into every language of the son. Maybe that's why the King James Bible has been translated into over 200 languages, straight from the King James Bible, many times by people who didn't even know Greek or Hebrew. They just went straight from the King James Bible. You say that's a copy of a copy. This isn't a copy. This is God's word preserved today, every single word. If it's not here, then tell me where it is. In one of the... Well, it's in the original Greek and Hebrew. The original Greek and Hebrew crumbled into dust thousands of years ago. They're gone. And you say, well, you've got to go back to the original language. What language? You're talking about the three languages that the Bible was originally written in, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek? Well, if you go to the Greek New Testament, the Texas Receptus, there's 38 different editions of it that are all slightly different. Which one do you want to go to? You see what I'm saying? The only place in the world where you're going to find a book where you can pick it up and have every word of God is the book that's been used like no other book in the history of mankind, the book that's gone around the world for the last 400 years. It's gone to the jungles of Africa. It's gone to Southeast Asia. It's gone to Alaska. It's gone to the tip of South America. It's gone around the world. It's the greatest best-selling book of all time. It's the King James Bible, written in the English language, the language of the world in the year 2000. And, you know, in this generation, it's the word of God, Frank. Don't worry about whether the book that's sitting in front of you is the word of God. Just pick it up and read it, and you'll know it's the word of God. Just look at what it does. Look around the world, and you'll see that this is the voice of God. This is the King James Bible. This is God's word preserved to us. You say, where was it before that? Somewhere else. I wasn't there, but God has always preserved his word. I mean, originally he delivered it in Hebrew, and then it was translated from Hebrew into many languages, the Old Testament. Then he delivered it in Greek in the New Testament. Right away it was translated into Syrian and Aramaic and all these different languages. Hey, I don't know where it was 500 years ago, because I'm not going to let some historian tell me what I believe. But I'll tell you something. There's always been a book on the face of this earth that contained God's words. Keep in mind, all throughout the Bible you see that plural. Words, words. You say, well, you still get the same idea, the same thought, the same feel, the same story. Is it the same words? That's what I want to know. I don't want the same gist. I don't want the same story, the same truth, the same idea. No, he said, thy word is truth. He said, every single word is truth. And that's why it was a great day when I discovered that every word in the Bible was exactly the way that God wanted it. You know, there's no two words that are misplaced. And this is just exactly what God said. When I discovered that, I said, you know what? I think I'm going to read my Bible like ten times as much as I've been reading it. Because once I discovered that, I'm like, good night. The answer to every question that mankind has wanted to know, the wisdom of all the ages, every true thought of mankind, of God himself is in this book, boy, I was just so intrigued. I mean, if I told you, you know, this book contains the answer to every question of mankind, if you'll just dig into it and read it, what would you pay to open that book? I'd pay anything to open that book. Well, you've got to write in front of you, it's the Bible. It's God's holy Bible, the word of God. Now, you can either say, God's word is available in 2006. It's not a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy. Translated, perverted, changed throughout history. Or you can say, no, Jesus was telling me the truth. He said, my words shall not pass away. Second area that I see where people today in our world are calling Jesus a deceiver, calling him a liar. Look at 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5, and we're living in a day where the very core of what we believe is under attack. It's being, these false doctrines strike at the very core of everything that we believe, the authority of God's word. And number two, the other big one is found here in 1 John 5, 10. The Bible says, he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness, which is the Holy Ghost if you read the context of the chapter, hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar. You see that? See, the Pharisees did not believe on Jesus Christ, and so what did they do? They turned right around and said, he's a liar, he's a deceiver. And this is what it says, why are they calling him a liar? Because, it says, because he believeth not the record, which is the Bible, he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son, and specifically in verse 11 we're going to find out exactly what they don't believe and why they're calling Jesus a liar. 1 John 5, 11, and this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life. And this life is in his Son. See, God has given, past tense, he already gave it to us, eternal life. And it's in Jesus Christ. Is it eternal? Is salvation eternal or not? Is the salvation that I got as a six year old boy on my knees by my bedside, is the life that God gave me that he breathed into me that day when he quickened my spirit and raised it from the dead, was it eternal or was it temporary? Well, if you say that it's temporary, you're making Jesus a liar. I hate to tell you, you're right there with the Pharisees who said, ah, deceiver, that liar, he also claims he rose from the dead. He claims that his word's always going to be preserved. He claims that once you get saved, you'll always be saved. Well, that's right, you always will be saved. Because when God gives you a gift, the Bible says the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. He says when he gives you something, he doesn't change his mind about it later. He doesn't repent and say, ah, I changed my mind. I saved you, but oh, I changed my mind. No, he says, I have given you, it's done, it's over. I've given you eternal life. And that's why two verses later he says, these sayings have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know, know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. Because if you're believing on Jesus Christ and that's all you have to do to get saved, and you've already done it, you know you're saved. You say, well, I'm not living right. I've been sinning. You know you're saved because it's eternal life. And so you decide what category you want to be in. Do you want to be in the category that says, thy word is truth? Or do you want to be in a category that says, that deceiver, that liar? And those are the two categories you must choose on this issue of eternal life. That's salvation, believe on Jesus Christ. And he says, whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Everlasting life. Or this idea of, well, I'm not really sure if the Bible that I have is really the one that God wrote or whether it's been tampered with throughout history. Well, you know, if you bought one that just came out yesterday, it probably has been tampered with. But if you got the good old King James Bible, which used to be the only Bible, used to be in the early part of this century, if you find a Bible that's 80 years old, it'll just say Holy Bible. It won't even tell you King James Version because there wasn't even an issue about it. This is the Bible. But anyway, back to the chapter, I wanted to deal with that point there about the Pharisees' brazen attitude where they're just willing to call Jesus a deceiver and a liar. Well, look at verse 1 of Matthew 28. At the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, deceived the sepulcher. So they're coming before its light out to the sepulcher. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow. Now, by the way, it's interesting to note that if you read all four accounts of this, every time you'll notice that the stone was not rolled away so that Jesus could come out. If you study this, Jesus was already gone before the stone was ever rolled away. It's kind of interesting. The stone was only rolled away so that they could see in. You'll see the chronology is very consistent. See, they came to the sepulcher. That's when he rolls the stone away. And that's when the angel says, he's not here. He's risen. He's already gone. You missed him. And you'll notice also in John 20, in John chapter number 20, that Jesus actually enters the room. The Bible makes clear that the windows and the doors were shut in the room where they were. And then all of a sudden, boom, Jesus was there. Because once he had been resurrected and glorified, he was no longer confined by human restraints of space and time, where he has to physically open the door and walk. Now, when Jesus was on this earth, he was. He physically moved around. He was hungry. He was thirsty. He was tired. He became angry. He went through all the emotions that we go through, yet without sin. But at this point, he's already resurrected. He just walked out through the door. He didn't even need to roll the stone away. He rolled it away so that these women could see inside. So the Bible says in verse number 4, and for fear of him, the keepers did shake. These were the men that were guarding the sepulcher and became as dead men. They fell on the ground dead, seemingly, because they passed out, is what it says in the book of John. They just fell out. And then it says that the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye, for I know that you see Jesus, which was crucified. He's not here, for he is risen as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay, and go quickly and tell his disciples that he's risen from the dead. And behold, he goes before you into Galilee. There shall ye see him, lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held them by the feet and worshiped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid. Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. Now look at this next section we're going to look at, verses 11 through 15. This is so interesting. It says, Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. Now what did they show them? They said, Well, regarding the tomb, all of a sudden there was an earthquake. All of a sudden this angel came down from heaven whose face was like lightning. It was so bright. And we got so scared that we all just passed out and fell out. He rolled the stone away, and Jesus was gone. And look what it says. And when they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, these are the priests that were just told this, they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, his disciples came by night and stole them away while we slept. Now look, do they think that his disciples came and stole them away? No. They know he didn't. They know he didn't because they're saying, Just go ahead and say that. They're not saying, Well, tell the truth. Tell them that the disciples came and sold them. They said, No, the disciples did not come. Okay, I mean, this angel came down. There was an earthquake. We all fell on the ground. The stone was rolled away. But can you see how brazen they are? I mean, they don't care. I mean, they know now that he was real. I mean, they know that it's real, but still, they just want to pay him off. And I was just pondering this, you know, just trying to figure this out. It just seemed so weird. But, you know, I think sometimes people just cross the line where they just go too far. Remember how we saw in Matthew 25? Actually, it was in Matthew 23. At the end of Matthew 23, where he just kind of said, You know what? I'm through with you. To the Pharisees, he said, You know, you just blasphemed me too much. You called me a liar just too many times. And he just says, I'm through with you. And he just pretty much threw up his hands. And I think that God comes to a point like that with people. Where they just sit there and with wicked hands, they crucify Jesus. They said, His blood be on us and on our children. And they crucified Him. And at this point, it almost seems like they're just so hardened. Just their heart is just like an adamant stone. And they're just saying, I will not change. And, you know, people will get like that. There are people on the surface that cannot be saved. Now, Jesus died for everybody. And they could have been saved at one point. But sometimes people just cross the line with God. They just go too far. And God says, That's it. I've had it with you. And God's the God of the second chance. But He's not always the God of the 400 chance. And sometimes people just hear the gospel. And they hear the gospel. And God just says, Fine. You don't want to be saved? Then go to hell. And that's what the Bible calls a reprobate. Somebody who's been rejected, they've gone too far. They can no longer be saved. And there are people out. That's where these people that are just sick and depraved. And they just get worse and worse and worse. They rejected Him too much. And you see these people that are so brazen. Why? Because they had every chance in the world. They heard Him preach. They saw everything. They saw Him on the cross when He cried out with a loud voice. And it became darkness for three hours. And even the centurion said, Truly, this was the Son of God. And they just said, No. No. And what happened? At this point, they're just hearing just evidence from just a scores of eyewitnesses. And they just say, Well, look. We're going to fight this thing anyway. We don't care. We hate God. We hate Jesus. As it said in the parable about the Jews, We will not have this man to rule over us. And so what do they do? They offer them a bunch of money. They tell these soldiers to lie and say that his disciples stole them. And then verse 14, it says, Well, And if this come to the governor's ears, We will persuade him and secure you. And what he's saying is, We're going to make sure you don't get in trouble for sleeping on the job. You know, because their whole job is to sit here and guard this tomb. I mean, think about how stupid of a story this is. You've got a hundred soldiers, because I believe it says in another passage, it says it was a centurion that was there with the soldiers. And a centurion comes from the word century, like a hundred, like centimeter, a hundred people. And so there could have been a hundred people there. We all slept. We were all sleeping. I mean, that's their whole job. I mean, that's their whole task is make sure and guard this thing. Now, do you think these people are working 24 hours a day? Obviously, it's in shifts. I mean, if they're guarding a tomb, people are staying awake the whole time. Nope, we all slept. They're like, We're going to get in trouble. We're sleeping on the job. We're going to get fired. He says, No, no, if the governor hears about it, we'll make sure that everything's fine. You just take this big, giant chunk of money. And notice, they had to give them large money, because it was so ridiculous for them to lie about this. They said, We're going to give you a lot of money. Don't worry about it. And I wonder where the chief priests got the money, by the way. They probably stole it from God. I mean, they worked for the temple, right? I mean, where did they get all this money? Where did they get the large money? They probably took it out of the offering of the temple of the Lord. And they give them this large money, and they lie about it. I heard somebody say one time how the resurrection of Jesus Christ is probably the greatest proof that he ever gave to mankind that he really lived against. Because what would be the motivation of the disciples to lie about it and to spend the rest of their life being stoned and martyred if they stole his body? I mean, think about how ridiculous that is. They're going to steal his body and say that he rose from the dead, and then they're going to go and die for it. What they know to be a lie makes no sense. And so Jesus Christ did raise from the dead. It's a historical fact. It's a biblical fact. And it's the greatest event that ever happened. It's the basis of our whole salvation, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So they took the money, verse 15 says, and they did as they were taught. And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. Verse 16, Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. Now, this is jumping all the way forward. Now, the four gospels, they're all so interesting, what they include, what they leave out, just because they're all trying to emphasize different things. And so some of them go into great detail after the resurrection. The book of Matthew is a very short chapter here, Matthew 28. All these events that we saw all the way up to verse number 15 all happened basically the same day that Jesus rose from the dead. That was all on that Sunday. You notice the chronology there. They went and told them what happened. These ladies go run to tell his disciples. Jesus meets them on the way and they worship him. Then we see in verse 16 we're jumping all the way 40 days later. Because this is when Jesus is on the Mount of Olives. He's just about to ascend up into heaven. Now, if you look at the book of Mark and Luke, this story is told about them being at the Mount of Olives. And here it doesn't say Mount of Olives is a mountain where Jesus appointed them, but we know it's the Mount of Olives from several other places. And in Mark and Luke it has them at the Mount of Olives. He gives this preaching here about how they need to go out and preach the gospel to every creature, or teach all nations as it says here. And then he ascends up into heaven. Now, this one does not record the ascension, but look if you would at verse number 16. It says, Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you all the way, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Now you say, why is it that in Mark and Luke, where it records the same event, it goes into how you ascend it up in heaven, and tells the big story about it looking up, and he goes into heaven. And in the book of John, it ends completely before this in the chronology. Why is it that it ends there? Look, God is trying to emphasize to you, in this first book of the New Testament, he's saying I start out introducing Jesus, and I'm going to say that I shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And then he ends it up. I love how he ends it. He says, Go ye therefore and teach all nations. Preach the gospel to everybody. He says, baptizing them. That's how we know that to teach all nations, he's not going to teach the gospel. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you all the way, even unto the end of the world. Amen. It's like, go. That's what it is. You end up this book. You walk away from reading the book of Matthew, and you say, I need to go win somebody to Christ. That's what I love about it. First book in the New Testament. He says, look, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Here's why I came in chapter 1. Here's what I did while I was here. I lived the righteous, perfect life. I preached the truth. Here's where I was sacrificed for your sins. Here's where I died and was buried and rose again. And now I'm telling you to go preach into the world. That's how it ends up. I love the way that different books emphasize different things like that. And it's so important, soul-winning, that's why he ends up the book with a command. And he says, I'm with you always, even unto the end of the world. I heard people say, well, that was just a command that he gave to his 12 disciples. That doesn't apply to everybody. It doesn't apply to us, people who don't want to go soul-winning. Well, that's not my gift, to give the gospel to people. Well, if he was just talking to his disciples, then why does he say, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world? Were his disciples going to be around at the end of the world? No. He's saying, this is a command to every disciple. This is a command to every Christian who would ever live. To go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Ghost. And by the way, here we see what's called the Great Commission, which is preaching the gospel to every creature, but that's not all it is. Because notice the three phases. He says, number one, teach all nations. That's what's recorded in Mark 16, where he told them to preach the gospel to every creature. But then he says, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Ghost. So you haven't really obeyed this until somebody has been saved, baptized, and you taught them the Word of God, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. Now, how are they going to learn all things whatsoever I have commanded you? Well, obviously we're talking about the local church. That's who's going to baptize them. In the New Testament, the baptism is done by the local church. It's done by pastors or deacons throughout the New Testament. Those two people do the baptizing. Well, how are they going to learn whatsoever I've commanded you if the pastor won't get up and preach all things whatsoever I've commanded you? Yeah, that's what's so ridiculous. People say, well, I don't really preach on thus and so because I don't want to offend people or make them mad. I heard a guy say, I don't preach on the women's clothing. He said, here's what I do. He said, I just have my wife dress right, and they're just supposed to look at her and just see that they're just supposed to notice that she never dresses wrong, and then just automatically it's just going to hit them, like, I think I need to dress that way because it must be a sin not to dress like she's dressed. I think to myself, that's ridiculous. That's crazy. I mean, Jesus says, teaching them. That's not a passive thing. I mean, that's an active thing. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. When I started this search, I made a decision that I'm going to teach everything that I believe. I'm not going to hold anything back because it's not popular. Believe it or not, but some of the things that I believe are not popular. You may know that, or maybe you don't know that, but some of the things I believe are not popular. But Paul said, I have not withheld anything from you that was profitable. He said, I've taught you publicly from house to house. He said, I've taught you the whole counsel of God in Acts chapter 20. And that's my goal as a preacher, to teach you to observe all things whatsoever Jesus has commanded me. All things. And you say, wow, good night. You're preaching things that are just really off the wall in 2006. I mean, come on. People are going to think you're nuts. They're going to think you're crazy. But no, I must teach all things whatsoever God has commanded me, or else I'm omitting the last great command that he gave while he's on this earth. I mean, it's the last thing he said, was to teach them everything. I mean, it's the last thing he said. Don't leave anything out. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you, and lo, I'm with you always, even at the end of the world. He says, don't worry about it. I'll be there with you when people are making faces at you while you're preaching. And people are getting upset and walking out. He says, I'll be there. I'm with you to the end of the world. He says, don't be afraid. Because a lot of times we apply the lo, I'm with you always to the go teach all nations. And it applies. But let's apply to the lo, I'm with you always. He's saying, look, just preach it all. Just say it all, and I'll be with you. Don't worry about it. That's the way I apply it. He's saying, look, say everything. Don't leave anything out. If it's in the Bible, preach it. Shout it from the mountaintop. Shout it on the rooftops. And I'll be with you. Don't worry about it. It says in Jeremiah chapter 1, I love this. Jeremiah was being sent out as a preacher. He's a very young man, the Bible says. And he says, well, I'm just a child. He says, how am I going to preach this to these people? And he gave him a very negative sermon that he was supposed to preach. He says, how am I supposed to preach this? He says, be not afraid of their faces, is what he says in Jeremiah chapter 1. He says, don't worry about it. People look at you funny while you're preaching. He says, don't be afraid. I'm with you. Just preach it like it is. And so I'm not one of these people that worries about, well, how am I going to build this church? What's popular? Which way does the wind blow? What's popular? What do people like? Because that's what I'm going to preach. Hey, look, what I preached in my sermon on Matthew 24, I hate to break it to you, but that's not popular, is it, brother Lawless? It's not popular at all. And in fact, I was reading my Bible, and I'm going to tie this in right now to close out my sermon tonight. But I was reading my Bible this week, and I had a great revelation. And when I say I have a revelation, I'm not saying that the ceiling opened up and Jesus Christ entered the room and a light shone, and I fell on my face and said, and I, trembling in a sauna, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And all that kind of stuff. I'm talking about I had a revelation reading the Bible, and the Holy Ghost showed me something from the Bible that was just outstanding. And I'm going to tell you something. Yes, I do have an ax to grind with this pre-tribulation rapture doctrine, which is garbage. It's a lie out of hell. It's straight out of the charismatic movement. And you say, why in the world do you preach that? You're alienating people. You know, Jesus always said that the truth is going to divide people. Didn't he say that? He said, I'm coming to set a man at variance against his father. Don't get me wrong, because my dad agrees with me 100% on that. But he said, I'm coming to set a man at variance against his father. And I'm going to tell you something. The truth will always divide people who want to go with tradition or they want to go with what the Bible says, with what the truth says. But I was reading my Bible, and it fits in very well with this end point, because look in verse 16 where he says he brought them into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. Now, that mountain we know is the Mount of Olives. Turn, if you would, let's pick up the story in Acts chapter 1, because like I said, Matthew chapter 28, because of its goal of emphasizing soul winning, emphasizing baptism, and emphasizing creating followers of Jesus Christ that are like you, teaching them to observe whatever he told you to observe, reproducing yourself as a soul winner. Because of that emphasis, he cuts off the story in the middle here, and he doesn't pick up the story again until the book of Acts chapter 1. Look at Acts chapter 1, and look at verse number 3 of Acts chapter 1. The Bible reads in Acts chapter 1, verse 3, to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many, look at the next two words, infallible proofs. This is talking about that 40 days. See how it says being seen of them 40 days? So this is what we're talking about, that gap in Matthew 28, where it jumps from the day he rose to the dead. Forty days long, he was appearing to them at different times and having different conversations with them. It says during those 40 days, he showed himself alive by many infallible proofs being seen of them 40 days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Now let me just show you something real quick before I move on. I'll pull out my NIV here, and I'm going to show you what the NIV says in Acts chapter 1. You say, why are you always showing us that? Because as sure as I'm standing here, if I don't show this constantly, like somebody in this room will go to some church someday to use the NIV. I mean, I hope not, but it happens. But if you see it all the time, you'll remember. No, I'm not going to do it. Listen to this. This is Acts 1-3 in the NIV. Look at your Bible and read the right Bible. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. Now you see a difference there? Like King James Bible says, it was infallible proof. I mean, there was no denying Jesus Christ rose again from this. Infallible proofs. It says in one place that he was seen of above 500 brethren at one time. He appeared to 500 people at the same time. It says in 1 Corinthians 15. This is like convincing, like a used car salesman. He's like, I'm telling you, I rose from the dead. He's like convincing. Now look, it's convincing? It sounds like you're trying to pull the wool over somebody's eyes. Well, you know, it was pretty good. You know, I mean, it's pretty convincing. I mean, I could buy it. Or how about infallible? No way around it. Jesus Christ rose from the dead. You see what a piece of junk this is? I'm just trying to get you to understand, you know, that thing. That's why I always keep it there in the pulpit. I was just ready to go. But look at verse 4. And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye have heard of me. And then let's skip down just for sake of time. The Bible says in verse number 7 here, again, he's emphasizing soul winning, and he said to them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. Talking about when the kingdom is going to be restored to Israel. But ye shall receive power after that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, verse 9, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud, okay, that's a very important word. Look at that word. And a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in wide apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which was taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Now we're going to find out what mountain they were at. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey. And a couple other places it says that that was the Mount of Olives where they were. Now, did you notice how the Mount of Olives is associated with the second coming of Jesus Christ? Where was Jesus when he sat down and explained to them the chronology of the events of his second coming? He was on the Mount of Olives. That's why it's called the Olivet Discourse. Flip over if you would. So we just saw there at the Mount of Olives, they're looking up, just to give you a synopsis, they're looking up into heaven. They watched Jesus go up in a cloud. They're watching him. And these angels said the same way that he went up is the same way he's going to come back, okay? Now look at Matthew 24. Matthew 24. We were here recently, of course, on our Wednesday nights. And everybody was here for Matthew 24 that's here right now. Otherwise, it's a must listen because the information in that sermon is vital. Get the tape and listen to it again. But in Matthew 24, look at verse number 3. And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, you see that? The disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world. And then flip down if you would. So we see again the Mount of Olives is where Jesus talked about his coming back. The Mount of Olives is where he ascended up from heaven. Well, look down at chapter 24. Let me just ring this bell one more time as I get into this. Look at verse 29 of chapter 24. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heaven shall be shaken. After the tribulation, he says, the stars are going to fall from heaven, the sun's going to turn dark, the moon's going to turn dark. And then it says, And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, all the tribes of the earth, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds. Every time you'll see Jesus Christ coming, it's always in the clouds. Every time a verse is about the rapture, it mentions he's coming in the clouds. So you notice the consistency. It says, coming in the clouds, the same way he went up, the same way he's coming down. Coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and he shall send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect. Elect means chosen. It's talking about the saved of the world. Gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. Skip down, if you would, to verse number 40. Then shall two be in the field. The one shall be taken and the other left. Talking about the rapture. Those that are not saved will not be taken. Two women shall be grinding at the mill. The one shall be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord cometh. Now, if you would, look back at Zechariah 14. I'm just going to go through this, and then I'll be done. Zechariah 14, the end of the Old Testament. This is the second to last book in the Old Testament. Look at Zechariah 14. Zechariah, chapter number 14. And look at verse number 1. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoils shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the cities shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished. We're in Zechariah 14.2. And half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Look at verse 3. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle. Now, who are we talking about in verse 3? L-O-R-D, all capital letters. We're talking about Jehovah. That's what the word Lord means in the Old Testament, all capitals. Now, a lot of people will try to mistakenly separate, and they get so complicated because they're trying to prove the pre-tribulation rapture, even though it's not true. They get so complicated, they say the day of the Lord and the day of Christ, two separate events. Okay, well, I'll prove them wrong right now. We're talking about the day of the Lord, the day of Jehovah. Look at verse number 3. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle. Look at verse 4. And his feet, whose feet? Jehovah. Am I right about that, or did I just make that up? Hey, the word he can only be referring to the noun in verse 3. It's a pronoun. It's referring to verse 3. And then, and his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives. So who, my friend, is going to be standing on the Mount of Olives in the great day of the Lord? It's going to be Jehovah God, also known as Jesus Christ, because there's one God and Father of all, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. There's only one Savior, the Bible says. Jehovah said in Isaiah 43, Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I am he, beside me there is none else. Don't tell me Jesus isn't God. I mean, it says right here that the Lord Jehovah is going to physically stand on the Mount of Olives. And don't tell me the day of the Lord is not the day of Christ, because it's the same day when Jesus Christ comes in the clouds, gathers his elect, sets his feet on the Mount of Olives, and look at the next verse. Actually, the same verse. His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave. That means it's going to break in half. Cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall be removed toward the north and half of it toward the south. Now let me show you the revelation. Actually, I'm going to show you one more verse before I get to the revelation I had as I was reading the Bible. Look at Revelation 1.7. Revelation 1.7, the last book of the Bible. Revelation chapter 1, verse 7. Well, see, the Bible is so consistent. While you're turning there, I'm going to read you another verse. While you're turning to Revelation 1.7, I'll read for you the most classic rapture passage in the Bible, 1 Thessalonians 4. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. Same as Zechariah. I mean, Jehovah God, Jesus Christ, whatever you want to call him. He's always called the Lord. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, and the same trumpet that was in Matthew 24, 29. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and rain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord, wherefore comfort one another with these words. So, so consistent the Bible is. But now look at Revelation 1.7, and we'll see here. Look at verses 5 and 6. Just get a feel for the Bible's chronology. Just look at it with some logic here. He says, And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and have made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. This is Revelation 1.6. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. This is all the introduction to the book. Notice how it's all been so far an introduction of just this is John that's writing it. It's the revelation of Jesus. And then he says, Amen. That's a punctuation. And then what's the next thing that's happening? Behold, he cometh with clouds. He says Jesus Christ is coming back. That's what this book's about. He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him. And they also which pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. So when Jesus Christ comes in the clouds, is everybody going to see him or not? He says, Don't let anybody deceive you saying, Here is Christ, or there is Christ. He says, When Jesus Christ comes, He's going to be like, As the lightning shines from the east to the west, everybody will see him. And it says, Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him. Now, are only saved people going to see him? No. Because it says right here, Every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him. It's like the people, you know, the wicked men of this earth who are responsible. And they also which pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail. That's not a positive word. Wailing means crying out in pain, like, Wail because of him. Even so, Amen. So when Jesus Christ comes in the clouds, it says people are going to see him, and they're going to be scared to death. And they're going to be weeping and wailing. They're going to be saying to the rocks, Fall on us. Hide us from the face of the land, for the day of this great wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand? Right? See how consistent the Bible is? Now, let's go to Luke 17, where I had this revelation. It's interesting, there was the girl that was here several weeks ago that had a class assignment. She was assigned to be here on a Sunday night. Well, she sent me a copy of her paper that she wrote about her experience at our church. It was a great paper. I enjoyed reading it. And actually, she represented it perfectly. I mean, everything she wrote, I agree with 100%. And she wrote all about it. And she called me up this week, and she asked me, she said, you know, it was interesting what you were saying about the differences between the King James Bible. It's a Mormon girl. But she was assigned to come to a different kind of a church for a class project at her community college. So she said, I was really interested in what you showed me after the service about the King James Bible, verses like the NIV and these other versions. And she said, can you give me a list of these verses that have been taken out, these 16 verses? I said, sure, you know, I'll email it to you. So I emailed her the list. And she said, why were these verses taken out? And I was going through each verse and showing her, you know, well, this one was obviously taken out, you know, Jesus before you get baptized, Acts 837, because the Catholics want to baptize babies, you know, that's why they took it out. And I was going through and showing her why each verse was taken out. You know, why I thought they were taken out, because it's pretty obvious. There's a verse that says you got to believe on Jesus before you can be baptized. Obviously people take it out because they baptize babies. But anyway, I was going down the list and I came to one that I hadn't really thought about in a long time. And it was in Luke chapter 17. And this is what spurred me to this thought. It was in Luke 17. And it was verse number 36. Two men, this is Luke 17, 36. Two men shall be in the field. The one shall be taken and the other left. And I was like, oh, I wonder why the devil would want to take out that verse. And so then I began to just really read and study this passage. And I saw something really interesting. Look at verse number 26. Excuse me. And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark. And the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also, as it was in the days of Lot, he's saying this is what it's going to be like when Jesus comes back. They did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. And watch verse 29. This is the one that really just jumped off the page of me. Luke 17, 29. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. You see that? He says when Jesus Christ is revealed, the day of the Son of Man, the day of the Lord, the day of Christ, when Jesus Christ comes in the cloud, he says the day that Lot came out of the Sodom and Gomorrah, he said immediately fire came down from God out of heaven and destroyed them. He said it's going to be the same way in the day of the Son of Man. He said, see, the same day that Jesus Christ raptures the Christians out of this earth is the same day that he's going to pour out his wrath on this earth. It's the same thing. See, the day of the Lord is described throughout the Old Testament as a negative day. A day of destruction. A day of clouds and of thick darkness. You can read all about it in the book of Joel. And on and on describing the terrible and dreadful day of the Lord that's coming. But in the New Testament when Jesus calls it the day of Christ, it's talking about a very positive day. Because it's the same day. Look at this if you would. It says the same day, let me find my place and I'm going to show you this in the book of Revelation and then we'll close. The same day that Lot went out of Sodom, talking about where he pulled out the one saved person out of that city before he destroyed it. The same day Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. The day when the Son of Man is going to be revealed is the second coming when Jesus comes in the clouds, pulls out Lot, as it were, you know, the saved Christians, and then he pours out his wrath. Look at Revelation chapter number 8 and I'll close with this. And we'll see the first stage of God's wrath. And you kind of had to be here for Revelation 24 to understand this, which you all were here for that, because I'm building on that foundation. But look at Revelation chapter 8 right now. Revelation chapter 8, right after the rapture just occurred in chapter number 7, where the great multitude appeared in heaven, in white robes. Now look at verse number 1 of chapter 8. We're going to see God begin to pour out his wrath in Revelation 8.1. And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels, which stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne, and the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. Now watch this. Right after the rapture just took place in Revelation 7, all the way through verse 14 and that whole part, right after that it says that he filled it with fire of the altar, a censer, and cast it into the earth. You see that's the first step of God's wrath. He cast that fire into the earth before the first trumpets even blown. And there were voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake, and the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded and there followed, hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth. And the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. Isn't that exactly what he said in Luke 17? Where he said the same day the law came out of Sodom and Gomorrah, God rained down fire out of heaven. And he says that's exactly what it's going to be like when the Son of Man is revealed. When Jesus Christ comes in the clouds, when he sets his feet on the Mount of Olives and he fights against all the nations of the world that have rejected him, and he begins to pour out his wrath and the seven trumpets and the seven vials, the first step he says I'm going to rain down fire just like I did in Sodom and Gomorrah. You see because when Jesus Christ returns, the Bible says it's going to be just as wicked as it was in Sodom and Gomorrah. He's saying that homosexuality is going to abound like it did in Sodom and Gomorrah. He's saying that filthiness and violence is going to abound like it did in the days of Noah. And he says that's why the same day I take my people out is the same day I'm going to pour out my wrath. And so he says if you're saved, you're looking forward to the day of the Lord. You're looking forward to the day of Jesus Christ. You're looking forward to it saying even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. But he said all nations of the earth shall wail because of him. But even so, amen, because that's not me, because I'm not going to be there. Because I'm going to be raptured out before God pours out one bit of his wrath before the great and terrible and dreadful day of the Lord comes. That same day that I'm taken out is going to be the same day that God's wrath is poured out on this earth. Isn't the Bible consistent? And yes I will close the book of Matthew by teaching all things whatsoever Jesus has commanded me, whether that's popular or not. I'm going to continue to preach it because it's the truth. And you know what, if somebody will lie to you, if somebody knows that that's true, what I just said, and anybody who's read the Bible any amount of time knows that that's true. I mean I've talked to young kids and teenagers who say, the first time I started reading through my New Testament cover to cover, I got to Matthew 24 and said the pre-tribulation rapture is bogus. Since I got to Matthew 24, it's pretty obvious. But I'm going to tell you something. Anybody who won't get up and preach that, who believes that and who knows that that's true, and they won't get up and preach that, what else are they holding back from you? They could help you, right? What else are they telling you stories about and lying to you about? I mean there's one thing that people maybe don't know that, but if they don't know that maybe they should study this, show themselves approved unto God and learn the Bible. But what else are they holding back from you if they're afraid to say something because of popularity? What else are they holding back from you? Hey, my goal, because I love you, because I love everybody who's in this room, my goal is to tell you everything and not to withhold you my knowledge of the Bible. I'm going to teach you everything I know about the Bible. And I'm going to learn more this week. I'm going to get in the car right now. I'm going to drive to Palm Desert, California tonight. I'm going to be studying the Bible on the way to Palm Desert, California so that I can learn more so I can teach you everything that I learned from Jesus Christ. That's what the pastor is supposed to be. He's supposed to teach you all things whatsoever Jesus commanded you. And what are we all supposed to be doing? Every man, woman, boy and girl, we're supposed to be teaching all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever we've been commanded. So let's remember how the book of Matthew ended. It ended with a command that said, what are you doing sitting around? He says, why stand you gazing up into heaven? Get out there and preach the Gospel. Get out there and do something with your life to see people saved. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. God, thank you so much for the book of Matthew. It's been such a pleasure just studying for these sermons, just memorizing the verses, dear God, just learning the material. And it's been just such a joy preaching through the book of Matthew. What an endless treasure of great truths, dear God. I'm just excited about getting into the next book. I'm excited about the book after that because the Bible is just such a marvelous book, dear God. Please just help us to realize what we have in our hands, to preserve the words of God, the wisdom of all the ages, sitting at our fingertips, dear God. Oh, God, help us to shut off the television, shut off the People magazine and pick up the word of God preserved for us. People died to pass this down to us, dear God. Help us not to take it lightly. Help us to pick up the Bible and know what we're holding. When we pick it up, we're holding the Holy Bible, the word of God. And Father, help us to read it and love it and obey it and teach it and preach it to everyone we know. Whether we're the pastor or not, good night. Help us to preach the word of God and preach the salvation of God to every creature that we run into, dear God. Please just give us the grace to do that.